Summer is coming to a close. The days are getting shorter, and the temperatures are cooling off, which I admit is a welcome development. I’m tired of sweating through my shirt by 8 a.m. every morning. We are still going to the beach every weekend, and surfing and paddle boarding, but we know that those days are coming to an end, as the water will continue to get colder.
It’s been a fantastic summer. I didn’t ride my horse as much as I would’ve liked, mostly because I worked a lot. I can’t complain about working though, since my extra job was guiding kayak tours and getting to sit in the Pamlico sound and watch the sun go down.
The kids are definitely seeing why I was so intent on moving back here. They hang out with their friends on the beach, they surf and boogie board, they have bonfires, and they s t a r g a z e on clear nights when you can see the Milky Way stretched across the sky. I would say their conversion to Hatteras Kids is complete.
There were plenty of moments this summer when I sat and reflected on how happy I am to live here. Sitting in a kayak on calm, glassy water and watching a hot pink sun sink into the horizon was one of the highlights.
This weekend I was on a paddleboard pretty far off the beach, maybe a quarter mile. We were out in deep water, past the sandbar and past the place where the waves break. My kids swam out and climbed on the board with me, so all three of us were sitting on this huge board just drifting and soaking in the sunshine. A pod of dolphins swam by, and they were jumping out of the water and flicking their tails and playing in the waves. They were so close I could have tossed a rock and hit them. It was absolutely magical, one of those moments where you just thank God that you’re alive and experiencing the world in such a beautiful way. It was a bonus that my kids were with me and got to experience it as well.
The number of tourists is beginning to decline as well. There are still plenty of people here, plenty of houses rented and plenty of people sitting on the beach every weekend. But with every week that goes by, those numbers get less and less. Soon I will be back to walking on a deserted beach with only my dog for company. Soon it will start to blow out of the northeast and dump loads of shells and sea glass onto the shore. Soon I will start my daily walks again, since I won’t be kayaking as much. The bird migrations will begin. Thousands of cormorants will fly parallel to the beach on their way to South America. The gulls will fly south too. We won’t see them again until the tourists come back next spring.
I am looking forward to another peaceful fall and winter season.
Simple Southern 